Grand Slam (golf) - The Senior Grand Slam

The Senior Grand Slam

Senior (i.e., 50 and over) men's golf also has a set of majors. Like the women's majors, the senior majors are not globally recognized. However, because the U.S.-based Champions Tour (operated by the PGA Tour) overwhelmingly dominates worldwide senior golf, its roster of majors is by far the most widely recognized.

Unlike the mainstream men's and women's (until 2013) Grand Slams, the senior version (as recognized by the Champions Tour) now contains five events, arguably making a senior Grand Slam a greater accomplishment than in mainstream men's or women's golf.

In the current order of play, the five majors are:

1. Senior Players Championship (ending on the day before the U.S. holiday of Memorial Day, observed on the last Monday of May)
2. The Tradition (ending on the second Sunday in June)
3. Senior PGA Championship (two weeks after The Tradition, ending on either the last Sunday in June or the first Sunday in July)
4. U.S. Senior Open (ending on the Sunday in July two weeks before The Senior Open Championship)
5. The Senior Open Championship (ending on the last Sunday in July)

The Senior PGA is by far the oldest of the senior majors, having been founded in 1937, decades before the establishment of the Champions Tour (as the Senior PGA Tour) in 1980. The other events were all founded in the 1980s—the U.S. Senior Open in 1980, the Senior Players Championship in 1983, The Senior Open in 1987, and The Tradition in 1989. This era saw senior golf became a commercial success as the first golf stars of the television era, such as Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, reached their fifties. The Senior Open, however, was not recognized as a Champions Tour major until 2003.

The stability of the majors in senior golf falls somewhere between mainstream men's golf and the LPGA:

• The roster of mainstream men's majors has not changed since the concept of the professional "Grand Slam" was generally recognized. The number of tournaments recognized by the LPGA as majors, as well as the identity of these events, has varied considerably over the decades. Two tournaments that were once considered as LPGA majors no longer exist, and a third lost its major status but survives as a regular tour event. In senior golf, the number of majors has changed over the years, but always by the addition of a new major.
• In terms of in-season scheduling, the senior majors have been much less stable than those of mainstream men's golf or the LPGA, especially in recent years. With the exception of a one-off staging of the PGA Championship in February 1971, the mainstream majors have been held in the same order, and in almost exactly the same weeks of the year, since 1969. In women's golf, the scheduling of the majors has stabilized in recent years, with occasional minor changes of dates but no change of order. However, in senior golf, the order of the majors has changed four times since 2006. The Senior Players Championship, held in July in 2006, moved to October in 2007, August in 2011, and May in 2012. The Tradition, previously held in late August, moved to early May in 2011, and to mid-June in 2012. The Senior PGA Championship moved from late May to late June/early July in 2012. The U.S. Senior Open moved from mid-July to August in 2008; it returned to mid-July in 2012. The Senior Open has retained its late-July date throughout this period.

No man has ever won all of the senior majors contested in a year, even in the period between 1980 and 1982 when only two senior majors existed. Also, no man has won all five of the current senior majors in his career. Miller Barber won both of the 1980-1982 senior majors, the Senior PGA and U.S. Senior Open, during that time span, and won the inaugural Senior Players Championship in 1983. Those three tournaments would be the only senior majors until The Tradition was first played in 1989. Prior to the founding of The Tradition, Palmer and Player also completed that era's Career Senior Grand Slam. However, neither Barber, Palmer, nor Player would ever win The Tradition.

Jack Nicklaus is the only other player to have completed any era's Career Senior Grand Slam, doing so in his first two years on the Senior Tour. In his first year of eligibility in 1990, he won The Tradition and the Senior Players Championship. The next year, he defended his Tradition title and went on to win the Senior PGA and U.S. Senior Open. However, he failed to defend his Senior Players title and thus missed out on a calendar-year Grand Slam.

Nicklaus is the only player to have won four different senior majors in his career. Although Nicklaus never won The Senior Open, that event was not recognized as a U.S. senior major until 2003, which was also the only year he played the event. Player won The Senior Open three times before 2003, when it was considered a major by the European Senior Tour but not the Senior PGA/Champions Tour.